"No Substance": Burna Boy apologises for controversial statement about Afrobeats

Burna Boy apologised for a controversial 2023 interview, where he said that he doesn't consider himself an Afrobeats artist and that the genre had "no substance".

Speaking with BBC Radio 1Xtra's Eddie Kadi on Tuesday, Burna Boy explained that his earlier comments that he is not an Afrobeats artist but rather an Afrofusion artist should be seen in the light of his early career in Nigeria, where he didn't feel like there was a place for his music.

"I am mixing all these elements and having an African base […] I couldn't understand why everyone wanted to put me in a box", the artist said.

The Nigerian singer-songwriter is considered a trailblazer among African contemporary musicians. Loved for his mixture of Afrobeats, hip hop, reggae, and R&B, he became the first African artist to headline a stadium show in the UK in 2023.

"The way I saw it, if you just put everything into Afrobeats, you're now comparing Socrates to Kendrick Lamar because they both said two things that rhyme, so they both must be rappers," Burna Boy said to BBC 1Xtra.

Burna came under fire in August 2023 following an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe where he claimed that 90% of Afrobeats artists " have no real-life experiences," meaning that most songs are about nothing, according to the artist, who notes that his comment was said whilst he was "in a dark place mentally".

Today, he is content to wear the Afrobeats label, he said, as the controversy about the interview made him realise why it was important to have an umbrella term to advance the Afrobeats movement.

"I get it and I apologise for that confusion.", Burna said.

Burna Boy, whose real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, talked to 1Xtra on the occasion of his album "No Sign of Weakness", released July 11.

The highly anticipated 8th record follows the hit single "Don't Let Me Drown," which was featured on the official soundtrack to 'F1', one of the summer's big blockbuster movies.